Ready? Got some?

If you now do have some New Year resolutions, then you are probably already failing. Or know that you will eventually probably fail. In the end, most people do. I know I fail. What’s worse, we are, in fact, sabotaging our resolutions and we don’t even know it.

Whether you appreciate my twisted sense of humor or not, you might ask: How can I be already failing and sabotaging my resolutions if I have only set them a minute ago? Well, good question.

Ladies and gentleman, prepare to be shocked, but…

It’s not about putting the effort into your resolutions!

Wait a minute! If it’s not about putting the effort into your resolutions, then what is it all about?

Well, here comes the $64,000 answer:

It is about making sure that you will keep putting the effort into your resolutions.

Big difference.

In my experience, I am either making damn sure that I will keep putting effort into my main goals, or I am inevitably failing – it’s just a matter of time, really. It works the other way around too though – done properly, the success can be inevitable. If you plan to finally start a blog this year, you may look into PBN LTD Hosting services to learn all about the benefits offered by a secure web hosting company.

Don’t let the fate of your resolutions be doomed before you equip them with the right weaponry necessary to succeed in the Age of Distraction. Oh look, a butterfly! It’s so pretty! It’s flying onto twitter! No, it’s Facebook. No wait, it’s reddit! (… 3 hours later…) What was I talking about? Oh, right. Distractions. They are getting worse every year. Are you getting better at making sure they don’t control your life? I will show you how I personally do this nearly Sisyphean task.

But first, I will have to disagree with Mr. Albert Einstein. Just for fun. Because that’s the way I roll. Actually, not for fun, I’m trying to make a point here. Seriously now – I believe it was this particular gentleman who said:

“Compound interest is the greatest invention in human history”.

Hear hear, but how about compound effort? Now we are talking!

Compound effort

There are two main ways of making sure that you finish something: Using someone else to make sure that you will keep putting effort into it (the Mad Klingon way), or making sure you will keep putting effort in yourself. I’m going to talk about the latter, as it is much more powerful and flexible, and can be combined with the first way anyway.

No working complex system that exists was built at once. All such systems gradually evolved. It is the same with non-trivial goals (or resolutions). The only way to ensure that you will fulfill your goals is to keep putting in effort over time and not stop doing that.

However, even if you use tricks to fool yourself into working, there is no guarantee you will keep doing that consistently. Year is a long time, and there are a lot of butterflies flying around, if you catch my drift.

How I don’t sabotage myself

I don’t know what the perfect solution is for you, but after many years of trial-and-error, I’ve finally discovered mine. Some credit is to Sebastian Marshall who has written about time tracking on his blog extensively. However, what I do is not really time tracking. I’ve crafted the following technique for my purposes.

This is what I do –

After I am done for the day, I print a checklist template for the next day and fill my 3 main objectives for the next day into it. Then I go happily to sleep. (Added bonus: As I fall asleep, my sub-consciousness is already working on these 3 objectives.) After I wake up, I check things off the checklist as the day progresses, either marking that I’ve done them or not. Loop this for 365 days in a row.

Timeless truth: What gets measured gets done.

What to put on the checklist depends on your goals. You should start simple. The essence of what I have there is roughly this:

• Y / N    Get up before 8 AM
• Y / N    Stretch after waking up
• Y / N    Drink water after stretching
• Y / N    Work on 1 main goal first thing on my PC, even before email or starting the browser or IM (5 min is enough)
• Y / N    Work on 3 main goals (specific tasks were chosen yesterday):
  • _________________________________________________
  • _________________________________________________
  • _________________________________________________
• Y / N    Work on blog post or article (5 min is enough)
• Y / N    Prepare checklist for the next day and write the main goals into it
• Y / N    Send a report of what I’ve accomplished today to my friend
• Y / N    Go to bed before 11 PM

My real checklist is like 4 times longer, because I want to keep track of at least 15 different areas/projects. I have no intentions of working on all of them on any particular day, but just having them as suggestions on my checklist, which always lies beside my computer, is extremely powerful. I maintain the template in my own Windows software Swift To-Do List as I like pretty print-outs, but you can use almost about anything – even notepad will do.

At first, it might seem a lot of hassle and paper, but the effort is absurdly low for the enormous benefits. I also file the old checklists into a binder. I simply can’t miss a day, there is no excuse. If, God forbid, something like that were to happen, I would print 2 checklists and fill in the missing info.

If you have daily checklist, the only way you can fail is not to fill the checklist. Even if you don’t do anything else and just fill the checklist, the day is a success.

Why it must be printed? First, I don’t want to begin my morning routine on the computer. I would much rather stretch, drink some water, and review the checklist first. Second, I want to be able to end the day with the computer turned off. Plus it’s more fun and you can’t overlook the paper. That white paper sheet is just glowing there. (Unless, of course, you have a pile of trash on your desk. In that case I can’t help you; I guess you should just burn the desk down and go home.)

For me, it is actually easier to work on my main goals every single freaking day, instead of just 3 days in a week or now and then or some other complex or random pattern – that just never works for me. I like it simple and consistent.

Endless power

Just imagine the raw sheer power of my daily checklist. Whatever I put into it, I’m 100% sure I will think about it, every day, for a year. And I will actually usually do it too, on most days.

I’m sure you can relate to this: If you are working on an internet project or have a business, you are juggling 7253 balls (or so). Sometimes, you forget that some of the balls are even there and let them silently drop on the ground. And sometimes you notice some of these balls got dropped and you feel bad about not juggling them for so long. Solution? Daily checklist.

What I am describing here is the most powerful productivity technique I’ve ever encountered in my life. I already have a lot of experience both with other methods and this one. For example, 2 years ago, I’ve used this technique for my personal life (habits, exercise, diet, not going insane) and stuff like that. And I’ve actually really filled over 340 check list in a row, not missing a day, before stopping. The effects have sunk in and the habit changes are permanent. I’ve also learned quite a lot about myself. My life is better forever.

Believe me – it’s not that important to work on your goals every day. What is important is to make sure that you will keep working on your goals and that you won’t forget about them.

Press “F5” in your brain to refresh your goals

… and push them back up in the endless list of thoughts, where everything quickly falls down and drops out of view. And do it often.

I personally fanatically adhere to the checklist routine – as long as I am printing and filling my daily checklist, the year can’t be bad. It’s just not possible. This ensures I will keep putting effort into my main annual goals.

I don’t care how you do this, but do it! Tattoo it on your forehead, carve it out of dead pixels into your screen, rearrange the keys on your keyboard so they read like the name of your goal, if you must. But do it!

However, there are certainly other ways of making sure you won’t forget about your goals and eventually finish them – please leave a comment: What has worked for you? What do you think could work for you?

Related Posts:

• Achieving Goals Like a Mad Klingon
• 10 best tricks of fooling myself to work
• How to Overcome Resistance to Work – 4 Techniques
• Outsmarting Yourself for Success
• This one simple habit will help you get everything done
• Double your productivity, stop procrastinating and master your habits with new video training

Seriously, Stop Sabotaging Your 2023 Goals is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

It’s the most powerful habit there is.

It’s the only habit you need.

So what is it?

It’s the habit of tracking your habits. The Meta-Habit™.

With this ultimate habit, you can easily start or stop any other habit. And it’s fun! Best of all, if you stick with it, your success is guaranteed.

It’s quite simple, really:

1. Create a spreadsheet for tracking all your habits daily
2. Put each habit into a separate column
3. Each row in the spreadsheet represents a calendar day, so put dates in the first column
4. Every day, fill the spreadsheet, indicating if you have done a habit or not

Now there’s more to it, but that’s it in the nutshell!

You can print the spreadsheet and use colored markers (green = performed the habit, red = not performed the habit), or use electronic spreadsheet (Excel, Google Sheets, or a spreadsheet in Swift To-Do List.)

Here’s how a quick-and-dirty version looks done on paper:

As long as you keep filling the Meta-Habit™ spreadsheet every day, you will eventually succeed and start doing the habits. Even if you actually don’t perform any of the habits, if you’ve filled the sheet, the day is a success. Because eventually, you will start doing the habits consistently. It’s just a matter of time.

In the Meta Productivity video training, I go into a great detail of the Meta-Habit™ method. The Meta-Habit™ is the second module of 5 total.

It’s one of my favorite techniques, and perhaps the most powerful one when it comes to changing your life and creating success.

Money, career, family, relationships, health, education, happiness… you can improve ANY area of your life with the right habits, and Meta-Habit™ is the best way make yourself actually do them!

Feeling inspired? Go get the Meta Productivity training, it’s completely risk free for you! You are 100% protected by our 90-Day Unconditional Money-Back Guarantee: If you won’t love it and it won’t change your life, you will get all your money back, no hassles, no questions asked!

Related Posts:

• Seriously, Stop Sabotaging Your 2023 Goals
• Double your productivity, stop procrastinating and master your habits with new video training
• Meta Productivity released! “Dramatically Increase Your Productivity”
• Meta Productivity training now includes an audiobook!
• So, do you want to build 100 tiny houses, or 1 skyscraper?
• Using to-do lists efficiently

This one simple habit will help you get everything done is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

If you purchase Meta Productivity now, you will get the video version completely FREE. You will also get an audio-book and e-book version – all for a single price.

Meta Productivity is a revolutionary training that will help you to:

• Dramatically increase your productivity
• Stop procrastinating
• Master your habits

You will get more done in less time, have more energy, and achieve success faster.

Watching video is much easier and more fun than reading a book. Video makes it easier for you to focus on the training. Permanently increasing your productivity has never been easier.

Peter Drucker said: “For the first time in human history, we will have to take responsibility for managing ourselves”. That’s why it’s critical to learn how to be productive.

Click here to learn more about Meta Productivity, or to purchase it!

Meta Productivity comes with 90-day Unconditional Money Back Guarantee – it will change your life, or you will promptly get your money back, no questions asked.

Related Posts:

• Meta Productivity released! “Dramatically Increase Your Productivity”
• 10 Benefits Of Being Organized: From Chaos To Freedom
• Seriously, Stop Sabotaging Your 2023 Goals
• This one simple habit will help you get everything done
• Meta Productivity training now includes an audiobook!
• Using to-do lists efficiently

Double your productivity, stop procrastinating and master your habits with new video training is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

If you are a busy professional, the audiobook is a big boon. You can listen to it while commuting, exercising, doing chores or running errands. It allows you to easily learn the material or to review it, so you can become dramatically more productive, eliminate procrastination, master your habits, and more.

Meta Productivity is a very important training, because as Peter Drucker said: “For the first time in human history, we will have to take responsibility for managing ourselves”.

Click here to learn more!

Related Posts:

• Double your productivity, stop procrastinating and master your habits with new video training
• Meta Productivity released! “Dramatically Increase Your Productivity”
• This one simple habit will help you get everything done
• The Key To Higher Productivity
• 3 easy techniques to instantly stop procrastinating
• Seriously, Stop Sabotaging Your 2023 Goals

Meta Productivity training now includes an audiobook! is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

This book will change the way you look at productivity forever.

You will dramatically increase your productivity, master your habits and kill your procrastination.

I’ve worked on this book for over 3 years. I’ve applied everything I’ve learned over the past 10 years about productivity, and condensed it all into proven, simple & powerful systems that anyone can start using immediately, with the least effort possible.

The book turned out really well, and I’m super excited about it. It can truly enrich and inspire you.

I’ve organized this training into 5 short e-books (modules) – each has about 20-40 pages.

In module #1, “The Secrets of New Productivity“, I list 7 common productivity problems (that no one talks about) and how you can overcome them.

These include lack of willpower and self-discipline, perfectionism, the fact that your to-do list is infinite, decision paralysis (being overwhelmed), to-do list guilt, and more.

You will also learn why “meta productivity” beats “productivity”: When you try to be productive, you burn your willpower on a particular task. So it’s not really sustainable. But when you are meta productive, you use your willpower and mental energy to make yourself more productive permanently.

In module #2, “The Meta-Habit™”, I share the most powerful method for taking control of your life and time I know of.

Habits are actions with huge ROI (return on investment). Just a single habit that helps you to be more productive, healthy, energetic or joyful can pay you huge dividends for the rest of your life.
And what’s the best way to take control of all your habits? With a habit!

The Meta-Habit™ is a method of managing habits. It’s super easy – it takes just about 2 minutes per day, and yet, it will help you to successfully start new habits or break existing negative ones.

In module #3, “The Productiveness Framework™”, I share the ultimate method for dramatically increasing your productivity.

The Productiveness Framework™ is a set of 5 principles that you can organize your day around. One of them is a simple yet brutally effective method for getting a lot of real, important work done every day.

You can expect to increase your productivity by 50-100% just by implementing the tools from this module alone.

Then there’s module #4, “33 Golden Nuggets of Productivity Wisdom”.

The idea behind this module is to make you a wise productivity genius.

This module will increase your awareness of productivity, give you new powerful perspectives and deep insights that will, in the long run, result in more success in your work and life.

This module is super-fun to read. It’s a collection of the best and most valuable information on productivity I know of.

Finally, there’s the bonus module #5, “7 Productivity Power Tools”.

In this final module, you will get additional proven tools that you can use to increase your productivity even more.

Click here to learn more about Meta Productivity. Or click here to purchase it ($99.95)..

Meta Productivity is delivered to you instantly, in 3 formats (PDF, ePub and Kindle).

Meta Productivity comes with Unconditional 90-day Money Back Guarantee: If you won’t be amazingly happy with it and the positive impact it has on your productivity and life, we will give you a full refund.

Related Posts:

• Double your productivity, stop procrastinating and master your habits with new video training
• This one simple habit will help you get everything done
• 10 Benefits Of Being Organized: From Chaos To Freedom
• Seriously, Stop Sabotaging Your 2023 Goals
• The 1 activity that makes you 10x as productive
• The Key To Higher Productivity

Meta Productivity released! “Dramatically Increase Your Productivity” is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Repeatedly coming back to a task and thinking: “OK, I will do this later” is very unproductive.

Not only you are wasting time, you are also literally training your brain to habitually procrastinate.

So, instead of repeatedly reading your to-do list and “randomly” picking a task to do next, apply a more systematic approach, such as this one -

Keep your to-do list well prioritized, and then just work on the first task until it’s done. Then mark the task as done and work on the current first unfinished task, and so on.

Huge benefit of this approach is that it completely removes decision paralysis, and it makes it much easier to get started on complex or unpleasant task.

When you decide that you will always do the first thing on your to-do list first, your brain has a much easier decision to make: To work on that task, or not work at all. That’s a simple decision, right?

On the other hand, when all tasks on your to-do lists are fair game, your brain has dozens or hundreds of options to choose from — which makes it hard to get going. You will then burn a lot of energy on inner conflict due to “decision paralysis”.

Also, keep these two pitfalls in mind –

Sometimes, it’s not possible to finish a task because you are waiting on someone or something – in that case, just proceed to the next task.

Also, re-prioritize your to-do list just once a day – at the start or the end of your workday. Remember, you want to “touch each task once”– and not constantly re-read and re-prioritize your to-do list.

And one final tip – sometimes, the best thing to do with a task is to just delete it. It’s like when you have leftovers in your fridge that you just know you won’t eat – but you delay throwing them out. That’s exactly what you DON’T want to be doing with your tasks.

Just “touch it once”!

Related Posts:

• Using to-do lists efficiently
• “Why should I care about being organized?”
• Seriously, Stop Sabotaging Your 2023 Goals
• Double your productivity, stop procrastinating and master your habits with new video training
• Meta Productivity released! “Dramatically Increase Your Productivity”
• 3 easy techniques to instantly stop procrastinating

“Touch it once” – Why being picky destroys your productivity is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Almost everybody uses a to-do list, too. (At least occasionally, if not regularly).

But almost none asks: “Hey, how should I actually use a to-do list?”

I think that might be a big mistake.

There are intelligent ways of using to-do lists, and not-so-smart ways.

By using a to-do list the right way, you can eliminate forgetting, stress, overwhelm, procrastination. In fact, you can increase your productivity and efficiency. Tremendously. You can feel like you are in control.

On the other hand, by using to-do lists in not-so-smart-way, you can achieve the exact opposite.

More stress, anyone?

Today, we are going to learn how to use a to-do list intelligently. It’s dirt-simple, and once you implement it, it feels just great.

How to use a to-do list in an intelligent way

Using a to-do list intelligently is deceitfully simple.

This is what you need to do:

1. Create the to-do list and do the initial dump, placing all your “stuff” into it. This clears your mind.
2. (continuously): Look at your to-do list, see what’s next, work on it.
     » Whenever you get interrupted or distracted, repeat.
     » Whenever you finish a task, repeat.
3. (continuously): Whenever a new idea or task comes to you, write it down immediately into your to-do list, then proceed with what you were doing before.

That’s all.

It is ridiculously simple, isn’t it?

And yet, very few people have actually really mastered this.

If you look at the instructions, they simply say to create a to-list list with all your current stuff, look at it often (whenever you get interrupted, distracted, or finish something), and always write new stuff into it immediately when it comes to you.

These simple habits can change your life.

Since these are habits, it takes time to fully establish them. But once you ingrain them, you will do them automatically.

Do this for 2-3 weeks, and you will be doing it automatically, without even having to think about it.

At any point, you either want to be working on a task, looking what to do next, writing down/organizing your stuff, or truly relaxing.

This might be the best well-kept hidden secret of productivity.

With these habits, it’s easy. But without these habits you will spend most of your time in a gray-zone, not really doing anything. Since you’ve read this far, I bet you don’t want that.

How could you start using this intelligent to-do list approach today?

Related Posts:

• Swift Mind Freedom released!
• Seriously, Stop Sabotaging Your 2023 Goals
• Double your productivity, stop procrastinating and master your habits with new video training
• 3 easy techniques to instantly stop procrastinating
• 30-second check: Do you get the maximum from Swift To-Do List?
• Always get stuff out of your head

Using to-do lists efficiently is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

However, with the right approach, you can easily overcome resistance. All you have to do is to use your mental resources efficiently. Just a little bit of the right mental effort can get you happily cranking on that horrendous task in just a few minutes.

As I’ve been experimenting with various productivity techniques over the last 7 years, I’ve discovered 3 extremely efficient techniques that I am using to this day. I am going to share these with you. I will also give you a fourth supporting technique, and show you how you can combine it all for maximum power.

1. Break it down

Break the dreaded task into the largest possible amount of sub-steps. Write it all down. Also write all related thoughts and notes that will occurr to you during this process.

After just 5-10 minutes, you can be a proud author of “How to do task X for dummies”. With such a how-to guide in hand, there will be little else to think about. You will just do it.

The magic of this approach is that the breakdown is an actual work on the task! Thanks to the breakdown process, you will think the task through and discover possible pitfalls. You will create a mental map of the unexplored scary territory which was causing the resistance.
This technique usually completely dissipates any resistance.

2. Discover the smallest possible next step you can do

Don’t confuse this with the “Next Action” principle from the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology. Next Action in GTD is the next specific action you can take to move certain project forward. The problem is that this very action can be the one causing the resistance.

However, there is a simple algorithm which you can use to discover a next step that you will actually want to do, and feel no resistance to.

Let me give you an example from my own life. I am writing a book, and one day, it happens that I will feel enormous resistance to writing. However, with the following dialogue, I can go past the resistance and start writing in just a few moments.

It goes like this – this is the inner dialog I have with myself:

Q: Can I write a book right now?
A: No!

Q: Ok… how about a single chapter? Can I write a chapter?
A: No!

Q: Well how about just one page, can I write one page?
A: No.

Q: Well, can I at least open MS Word?
A: Yes, I can do that.

So now I have Word opened, and the process continues:

Q: Can I write something?
A: No.

Q: Can I read a few random paragraphs I’ve already written?
A: Yes, I can do that.

So I start reading, and sure enough, I will want to edit some of the things I wrote during the previous sessions. I edit them, and sure enough, before I know it, I am writing new text. Once I run out of things to write, I take a break, and then I continue the dialog with myself like this:

Q: Can I write some more?
A: No.

Q: How about some freewriting, writing completely random stuff at the end?
A: Yes, I can do that.

So I start writing random things at the end of the book, whatever is on my mind (Freewriting), clarifying my thoughts, playing with ideas – and sure enough, before I know it, I am yet again writing valuable new content for the book.

As you can see, I am always trying to find the smallest possible next step I can take. Sometimes, I do this dialogue on paper (or on a computer). You can experiment with that, too. This technique works like a charm. It is simple, yet powerful.

Once I discover the micro-step I am willing to do, and actually do it, I usually have no problem going forward with further action on the task. If it doesn’t help, I start looking for another micro-step I can take.

3. Set a time limit

Kitchen timer or any other kind of timer can be priceless. Pomodoro works great, but sometimes, even 20 minutes limit is too much to make us feel like doing something. So, why not try 5 minutes? Or 2 minutes? Still too much? How about 1 minute? Or 30 seconds. Seriously, why not?

Are you willing to work for 30 seconds on that terrible task? Yes? Great. Set the timer and… go! The rest will follow, starting is half the success. If not, do another time block, and gradually make them longer.

You can learn more about this in my previous post Overcome procrastination with new Swift To-Do List.

4. Discover the hidden cause of resistance and solve it

Sometimes, all you need is a few minutes of contemplating with a pen or a keyboard. Think about why you don’t want to do the task so much. If you can discover the hidden cause of the resistance, you can oftentimes easily solve it. The causes are usually very specific and individual. Try to look at it from multiple perspectives.

For example, you might not want to start with some big task because you are afraid that you will have no time for fun if you start working. So the solution could be to schedule some fun activity with friends for the evening, then happily get to work, knowing that the fun is already guaranteed.

The Now Habit is a wonderful book on procrastination. It explains all the possible causes of procrastination in detail, and it provides strategies to overcoming them.

It might be also helpful to remind yourself that you don’t have to do it. In life, everything is voluntary.

Combine the above

For maximum effect, you can combine all the techniques above:

1. Think about the reason you don’t want to do it, and if you discover the possible cause, try to solve it.
2. Break it down into a list of sub-steps (write your own “for dummies” how-to guide).
3. Discover the smallest micro-step you are willing to do
4. Start a timer and work on it for 2 minutes

Here is a final tip for you: When it comes to success in life, the speed of implementation is critical. You should use what you’ve just learned immediately, right now. Pick some task that you feel especially large resistance to, and engage it. Now you know how. Tomorrow, you probably won’t – unless you do this, right now. Get cranking.

PS: Download Swift To-Do List, a task and notes organizer for Windows which will amaze you. It’s just a few clicks away. Can these few clicks revolutionize the way you work?

- By Jiri Novotny+, the obsessed author of the number one to-do list software for Windows, Swift To-Do List. Jiri’s life quest is to become productivity and achievement world-class expert to empower others to achieve their full potential. If you liked this post, then definitely follow this blog on G+.

Related Posts:

• 10 best tricks of fooling myself to work
• Seriously, Stop Sabotaging Your 2023 Goals
• 3 easy techniques to instantly stop procrastinating
• Achieving Goals Like a Mad Klingon
• Create more productive environment at your desk (10 tips)
• Double your productivity, stop procrastinating and master your habits with new video training

How to Overcome Resistance to Work – 4 Techniques is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

UPDATE April 29, 2011: There is a new post Achieving Goals Like a Mad Klingon if you want to trick yourself into achieving goals.

In order to be successful, we have to work hard, no matter what. We can’t always be at the mercy of our motivation.

I am lazy. But that’s okay, because I have some tricks for fooling myself into working, every single day. Actually, I’m quite productive thanks to these tricks. I’m going to share the tricks with you now.

I will mention my own software, a task and notes organizer Swift To-Do List, in 2 of these tricks, but these tricks can be done with other programs (or pen and paper) too.

1. The ultimate trick

When I really don’t feel like working, and it would take a superhuman force to get me working, this saves me. Every time.

Actually, I think what follows is the best way of fooling yourself to work, because it works so well. It’s scary-effective.

So what’s the trick? Well, when I have a “Task X”, and I don’t feel like doing it, and I would much rather do anything else, but I know that doing this particular task is the best choice, I do this:

I tell myself that I will merely write down the steps needed to complete the task. Just a rough draft, at first, and that’s it. Maybe just 3 steps. I then add more steps, breaking the 3 steps into smaller sub-tasks. I then add some details, and thoughts, notes of things that I shouldn’t forget when doing this task. I just think the task through and write everything down. After a little while, I will be a proud author of “The Complete Guide To Finishing Task X for Dummies”.

(The actual way I do this is that I open my Swift To-Do List and fill the notes of the task I want to accomplish with all the steps and thoughts.)

Now, for some unknown reason, when there is nothing else to think about, and there is no way to screw this task up, because everything is laid out in front of me, I just start working on the task automatically. I might do just the first baby micro-step at first, but that’s OK. It follows to the next, and to the next, and before I know it, the task is finished.

When I am thinking about how to accomplish the task, I am already actually accomplishing it. And once I think it through, it seems ridiculously easy.

2. Not eating at the computer

I don’t know about you, but I have never accomplished *anything* while eating at my desk. I usually just read articles, or gaze at the code in Visual Studio while day-dreaming, at best. What’s worse, I even don’t enjoy the food that much this way, as my mind is split among 5 different things.

Oh, and did I mention that my keyboard used to be a huge mess? I swear that there was a delicate living ecosystem inside it. Even if I am really trying to be super-neat, some of the foodstuff will fall into the keyboard. It happens to the best of us.

So what I do now is that I always sit to an actual table, like a civilized man, and enjoy my meal without staring at the addictive hypnotic evils of my computer screen.

Now, while I am enjoying my food at the table, I also kinda miss the computer. I’m eager to return to it and do some real work. The fake feeling of productivity while eating at my computer is eliminated.

3. Rudder of the day

When I sit down to my computer for the first time in the morning, I immediately start working. Because my brain is still half asleep, he doesn’t fully realize that I’m actually working, so he won’t protest. Poor little bugger.

Whenever I begin the day this way, the whole day flows in the productive-tone. But if I start by messing around on the social networks and reading news and articles, the whole day seems lazy and I accomplish a lot less in the end.

This trick has probably the biggest ROI (return on investment) of all of these. What’s the investment? Well, it takes just a little spark of my willpower to start working in the morning. This little morning-spark can ignite an enormous day-fire of productivity.

Being the navigator behind the rudder is easy in the morning. Much harder during the day.

Whatever you do, start working when you sit at your computer for the first time. Even if just for a couple of minutes.

In my opinion, any work done “first thing in the morning” counts triple.

4. Real relaxation

Fake relaxation sucks. When I need a break, I do not eagerly launch Facebook, ICQ or solitaire, but I actually get up and get away from the computer! :-) I can go for a walk, read a book, prepare myself a fruit snack/smoothie/juice, take a nap, do some yoga, chat with a co-worker, or just generally chill out without looking at the darn computer screen.

When I return, I don’t do some random thing on “The Internets”. Oh no. I open my Swift To-Do List, see what’s next, and immediately start working.

5. “Back to work” mantra

I’ve learned this one from Brian Tracy’s Time Management and Maximum Achievement programs. I just keep saying “back to work”, whenever appropriate, until it starts humming in my mind automatically whenever something distracts me.

Completed a small task? “Back to work.” Someone interrupted me? “Back to work.” Answered a call? “Back to work.” Had to reboot my computer? “Back to work.” Velociraptor looking at me behind the window, then leaving? “Back to work.”

“Back to work” is my Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. I just feel great every time I tell myself “Back to work” and resume working.

6. Always knowing what to do next

Whenever I finish a task of any size, and I do not know what to do next, my productivity goes to the drain. So, I’ve come up with an easy way how to avoid this.

Whenever I need to know what to do next, I just bring Swift To-Do List up using a system-wide hotkey and I immediately see what’s next.

Not having some productivity software associated to a system-wide hotkey is like riding without a steering wheel. You will get somewhere, but not where you want to go.

I have many separate to-do lists (a couple for each project), and I’ve created a new Priority called “Next”, highlighted by a bright green color. I assign this priority to tasks that I want to accomplish next.

View modes, filters, sorting etc make this really easy. I can also manually reorder the tasks (see a video) to decide the exact order of my tasks.

7. Sheet of paper with the most important task

Although Swift To-Do List is awesome ;-), good old physical paper has an intricate quality that no software can offer: It exists outside of your computer.

When I have 1-3 super-important tasks, I often write them down on an actual physical paper, and put the paper in front of me. It will be a constant physical reminder of what I want to do. Works like a charm.

And don’t forget the exquisite pleasure of physically checking the tasks off, and joyously manufacturing a paper-ball as a token of your greatness.

This has the biggest effect when you prepare such a paper before leaving work or going to bed, because it will be the first thing you see when you get back to work the next day.

8. Eliminating distractions

It’s a fact of this age that focusing is nearly impossible if you do not have some personal distraction-management strategy. I’ve ellaborated on this topic in one of my previous posts Create more productive environment at your desk (10 tips).

9. When falling asleep…

When you are falling asleep, think about the most important task for the next day. Your subconscious mind will do half the job for you during the night.

This might sound bananas to you, but I swear that it works. Your mind is busy during the whole night anyway (we all have dreams), so why not give it something productive to ponder on?

What’s your trick?

I lied. There are only 9 tricks. However, here is the Captain You to save the day!

See that comment box below? I would love to hear your tricks of fooling yourself to work, or any other comments.

Bring it on. How do you fool yourself into work?

Related Posts:

• How to Overcome Resistance to Work – 4 Techniques
• Seriously, Stop Sabotaging Your 2023 Goals
• Achieving Goals Like a Mad Klingon
• Hidden Procrastination
• Double your productivity, stop procrastinating and master your habits with new video training
• 3 easy techniques to instantly stop procrastinating

10 best tricks of fooling myself to work is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

The Now Habit has been sitting on my shelf for quite some time and I’ve been putting of reading it for a few years now :-) It sounds like a joke, but it’s not – there always were more interesting books to read – or so I thought! I’m not a procrastinator – you can’t be if you want to run a successful business – but perhaps I was a bit afraid that the book might slap me in my face and force me to reconsider my approach to work and play.

Now when I’ve finally read The Now Habit, I bring you a full summary of the book so you can get the most out of it quickly. The Now Habit book is well structured and surprisingly easy to read and has given me multiple insights into procrastination and productivity.

The Now Habit book says: “People do not procrastinate because they are lazy or irrational. They procrastinate because it makes sense, given how vulnerable they feel to criticism, failure, and their own imperfection”.

The book offers a new definition of procrastination: Procrastination is a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision.

Why we procrastinate

We don’t procrastinate because we are lazy. You certainly have motivation and energy for various activities that you do daily. Procrastination is not a character defect.

We procrastinate to defend our self-worth when we feel a threat to our sense of worth and independence. We procrastinate to temporarily relieve deep inner fears.

The fears are:

• The fear of failure
• The fear of being imperfect (perfectionism)
• The fear of being overwhelmed
• The fear of success (advancement vs. friends and acceptance)
• The fear of increased demands (as a result of your good work)

To overcome these fears, you need to accept yourself as imperfect and human. Your self-worth is not defined by your output. It’s okay to make mistakes. You must stop criticizing yourself.

Procrastination is rewarding – it brings us relief and refuge. We’ve learnt to use it as a tool for solving problems. The task will often get taken care of by itself or by someone or something else.

The cycle of procrastination goes like this – the more you procrastinate, the more anxious you are, and the more you criticize yourself, and the more you lose confidence. With lost confidence, you have even greater need to use procrastination, because you are afraid that others will judge you unfavorably.

How we procrastinate

When it comes to the actual methods of procrastination, everyone is different.

The best way to learn how you procrastinate is to observe yourself for 3 days. Whenever you put something off, write down what, how, and why. Write down your feelings and thoughts. After three days, review your notes. This will give you great insight into the “why & how” of your procrastination habits. (Yes, procrastination is a habit. And like any habit, it can be changed.)

Identify the attitude and self-talk that keeps you from accomplishing your tasks.

If you were to walk a board between two skyscrapers, you would be paralyzed by fear. But if there was a 100% reliable safety net, you would dance your way to the other side. You need to create that safety net in your life.

Develop indisputable sense of worth for yourself. Allow yourself to make mistakes. Make a safe place where you are free of judgment, in your mind and in your life. Make a commitment to yourself and your self-worth. Nothing must threaten you. Allow yourself to be human.

Whatever happens, you will survive. It’s okay!

How to talk to yourself

It is very important that you master the self-talk, because it determines the whole context or your life and your attitude to everything. It determines how you feel and how you act.

The “Have To’s” are messages of stress, and the “Shoulds” are messages of depression. These messages are negative because they do not clearly communicate what you choose to do, when you choose to do it, and where you choose to start it.

Replace the negative messages with positive ones. Give yourself the power of choice. Learn to say “no” – you do not have to do anything. You can say no. Always keep that in mind.

Replace ”I have to” with ”I choose to”.

Replace ”I must finish” with ”When can I start?” (and where?).

Replace ”This is so big” with ”I can take one small step”.

Replace ”I must be perfect” with ”I can be human”.

Replace ”I don’t have time to play” with ”I must take time to play”.

The statement of a producer with a powerful focus is:

I choose to start on one small imperfect step knowing I have plenty of time for play.

Guilt-Free Play, Quality Work

This chapter could be summarized like this: Play hard, work hard. Focus on playing hard first. Schedule your play, leisure and time for friends first, and start scheduling your work only after that.

This might seem counter-intuitive at first, but it works for multiple reasons:

• First, it is an excellent reverse-psychology trick. Before you know it, whenever some of your leisure activities gets cancelled for some reason, you will be relieved and thinking Great! I can work instead!
• Second, you need the extra stimulation, socialization, relaxation and exercise for high-quality output. No one can live in a bubble and come up with creative solutions. Additionally, exercising will give you more energy.
• Third, because the time when you can work will become limited, you will automatically have a tendency to make the most out of it. You will eliminate distractions. When you work, you really work.
• Fourth, you can achieve genuine and lasting motivation only through abundant rewards. Make the periods of work shorter, but make them count.

Procrastinators have many things common with workaholics. But both of them should realize that you do not need to put of living.

Overcoming Blocks to Action

The Now Habit offers three tools for overcoming blocks to action. The tools are:

Three-dimensional thinking and the reverse calendar

Any large task can easily overwhelm you without the proper perspective. You need to consider the size, length, and breadth of your task. You need to divide the work in time. Divide and conquer :-)

Reverse calendar helps you to schedule your work realistically. You start with an ultimate deadline, and then work your way with smaller deadlines up to the present moment. All these deadlines are within your control.

The work of worrying

You should respect your ability to worry as a means to alert you of a potential danger. Whenever you worry, figure out a plan for alleviating your worries. Establish a plan how to cope with any potential danger. This will give you a true peace of mind. Constant worrying can drain your energy quickly.

Persistent starting

Summary of this passage of The Now Habit is simply “Keep on starting.” Do not think about finishing. Think about starting. Always be starting. The finishing will take care of it itself. You can start many times every day. Always focus on what you can do next. One little step.

The Unschedule

The unschedule is a weekly calendar of your recreational and non-work related activities. Personal organizer software comes in handy for that. If you fill your weekly schedule with all your daily chores, committed activities, and a scheduled leisure time, you will see that you can’t realistically work 12, 8, or maybe even 6 hours a day on your task.

The unschedule uses reverse psychology to spring you into action. You can give yourself restraints like these:

• Do not work more than twenty hours a week on this project.
• Do not work more than five hours a day on this project.
• You must exercise, play, dance at least one hour a day.
• You must take at least one day a week off from any work.
• Aim for only thirty minutes of quality work.
• Work for an imperfect, perfectly human first effort.
• Start small.

With those restrains in place, you will have a strong unconscious desire to work more, play less, and resist the “authority” of your unschedule

Keep track of every uninterrupted 30-minute block of work that you’ve done during the day. Log how many hours you have worked every day and week.

Working in the Flow State

You are most productive when you can fully focus. Distractions, intensive emotions and concerns undermine your focus and productivity. You need to deal with them before you start your work session.

Even a simple 2-minute relaxation can work wonders. Just close your eyes, breathe, and empty your mind. It’s as simple as that.

(My own suggestion is that you can also simply write your worries and “stuff” on paper, and get to them later. Your brain will let go once you write it all down.)

Fine-Tuning Your Progress

One of the techniques described in The Now Habit is called “Planned setbacks”. This could be summarized as observe and optimize. Consciously choose projects/tasks that you are most likely to procrastinate on, and observe your thoughts and feelings. This will point out the areas where further development is needed.

Another thing you can do is to develop resilience. Failing is okay. In fact, if you are fully committed to anything, you will encounter many setbacks and failures. But that’s not a bad thing. The more you fail, the closer to success you are. There are no perfect paths. Even if there are setbacks and failures, it doesn’t mean that you’ve made any mistake!

Make commitment only to goals that you fully embrace. Do not set goals that you simply do not care about. It’s a waste of time that will lead only to unhappiness.

The Procrastinator in Your Life

Until you understand procrastination yourself, you will probably reinforce procrastination patterns in the people around you. Successful leaders communicate in a way that makes people commit, not comply. They state priorities clearly, and give rewards and praise frequently.

Successful managers invite commitment. For example, “What can you get to me in a rough form by noon?” instead of “You’d be better finished by noon.” They also place emphasis on starting, not finishing. They are clear about where to start. They never criticize the person, but only their output, and they never hesitate to give praise when it’s appropriate.

When dealing with your family members, always make it your fault, not theirs. Use sentences like “I’m so obsessed with being there early! I simply have to leave on time, so I’m leaving in 20 minutes. It would be great if you could join me, but it’s up to you.”

Summary Conclusion

If you apply the techniques and methods presented in The Now Habit, not only you will eliminate procrastination, but your overall quality of life and happiness will permanently increase. Not many books can have so dramatic impact on your permanent happiness.

I can recommend The Now Habit to anyone, not just people that are dealing with procrastination.

Related Posts:

• Seriously, Stop Sabotaging Your 2023 Goals
• Double your productivity, stop procrastinating and master your habits with new video training
• Using to-do lists efficiently
• How to Overcome Resistance to Work – 4 Techniques
• Overcome procrastination with new Swift To-Do List
• 10 best tricks of fooling myself to work

The Now Habit Summary is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

1. Work & Finance
2. Relationship
3. Home & Family
4. Health
5. Social Life
6. Personal Development
7. Fun & Adventure

Your tree might look something like this now:

These areas represent your life. They should capture everything essential that is going on in your life. If you wish, you can create many more areas, or completely different areas. For instance, while organizing your financial goals, you might include a section dedicated to exploring innovative opportunities such as ビットコインカジノ, which have gained popularity for their integration of cryptocurrency into entertainment and gaming. This addition could help you track how emerging technologies intersect with your interests or financial strategies. If you have valuable items at home, you may pawn for cash and fund your investments.

Consider creating these additional areas in the tree (a new memo for each one): Spiritual, Emotional, Mental, Contribution, Goals, Habits.

Now you are prepared to do the exercise:

Go through all the areas and write a summary of each area inside its memo. Write how you see that area of your life right now – anything from 2-3 sentences to a couple of paragraphs.

Rate each area on scale from 1 to 10, where 10 means that it couldn’t be possibly better.

Now go back to the parent memo (Awareness), insert a date stamp (Control + D) and write your general thoughts about your life.

When you are finished with writing your overall assessment of your life and insights gained from writing summaries of the individual areas, answer these questions:

1. What is my weakest area?
2. What is my strongest area?
3. Am I sacrificing any areas for other areas?
4. What area do I want to focus on in the next 6 months?
5. What is the most important thing I can do to improve my life?

If you’ve identified your weakest area, consider working on improving it. Or are other areas more important for you right now? What have you gained from this exercise? From my own experience, I can honestly say that this exercise is very powerful.

You can now collapse the parent memo for future reference.

Review your thoughts again in 6 months. Swift To-Do List has excellent clipboard support, so you can duplicate the whole Awareness memo with all its sub-memos (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V), and write a fresh view of your life, then compare the two. If you want to get truly powerful revelations, repeat this exercise every 3 months for a couple of years. The knowledge you can gain by reading your past views of your life can be invaluable.

This post has been inspired by Steve Pavlina podcast “Truth & Awareness“.

Related Posts:

• Meta Productivity released! “Dramatically Increase Your Productivity”
• Create more productive environment at your desk (10 tips)
• How to achieve your goals in 5 steps
• Seriously, Stop Sabotaging Your 2023 Goals
• This one simple habit will help you get everything done
• Double your productivity, stop procrastinating and master your habits with new video training

Raise your awareness of your life is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Step 1: Write your goal down

It all starts with the written intention to accomplish your goal. Incredible fact is that just writing your goal down will automatically make it more likely to be achieved. This step is crucial.

Swift To-Do List 7 is an ideal personal organizer application for organizing not just your goals, but also all tasks, notes and reminders associated with them.

Because every goal is a project, create a new to-do list for your goal in Swift To-Do List 7. The task list manager has various icons for your to-do lists that you can use to track and visually distinguish your goals. There is a target icon, and also flags in 4 colors and many other icons.

Good goals should excite you. They must have a heart. Your heart.

Step 2: How you can achieve it? Think it through.

Think deep and hard how will you achieve your goal. Use your imagination to visualize that the goal is already accomplished. How does it feel?

Play yourself a movie of you accomplishing the goal in your mind.

Write all your ideas and thoughts down.

Good goals should be measurable, concrete, and achievable. Measurable – that’s very important, because if there is a gray area where the goal can be considered achieved – or not, you will never know if you’ve already achieved your goal, and this will demotivate you.

Step 3: Ask yourself these questions:

1. Are you willing to pay the price?
2. Are you sure? Are you willing to accept all the consequences and responsibilities that come with your goal?
3. By looking at your past, is it likely that you will succeed? What could you do to change that?
4. Are you willing to start today? If not, then perhaps it won’t change tomorrow.
5. Do you honestly believe that you will succeed? If not, why not? And what could you do to ensure your success?

Again, write your answers and thoughts about your goal. In order to achieve it, you must believe it.

Step 4: Create action list

Fill your goal’s to-do list with with the key actions that you could do now. Look for the maximum pay-off. Write notes for each task where relevant.

Throw overwhelming force at your goal. Do everything in your power to ensure that you can achieve your goal.

Can you use recurring tasks? Reminders?

Can you create a habit around your goal? If you can develop a habit that will help you achieve your goal, and stick with it, then your success is guaranteed.

Step 5: Execute, track your progress and don’t give up

When you set the goal, you are likely going to be motivated and energized, and you might even start to work on your goal a little, but the hard part is not giving up.

This is where repeating reminders, or recurring tasks might come handy. Swift To-Do List 7 can repeatedly remind you of your goal. In fact, you can write a note to your future self. Write yourself a message about how you really want to achieve your goal, and how you want to keep up.

Now is the time to do the hard work. Good luck. Never give up, work as often as possible on your goal. Every little step in the right direction helps.

Don’t stop until you achieve it.

Change your environment to help you achieve your goal. Think about it – how could you modify your environment to enforce achievement of your goal? Perhaps you could post some post-it notes around for yourself. Or, for example, if you are trying to lose weight, you could throw-off the junk food from your fridge. Or, if you are trying to save money, you could place piggy-bank on your table. Do anything that will help you to stay on the right track!

Related Posts:

• Double your productivity, stop procrastinating and master your habits with new video training
• Seriously, Stop Sabotaging Your 2023 Goals
• This one simple habit will help you get everything done
• Meta Productivity released! “Dramatically Increase Your Productivity”
• Be Successful First Thing in the Morning
• Achieving Goals Like a Mad Klingon

How to achieve your goals in 5 steps is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog